Once again, O Cinema is proud to present this nationally-touring program highlighting all the DOCUMENTARY, ANIMATED & LIVE ACTION short films that received Academy Award nominations this past year. The 2023 Oscar Nominated Short Films program offers viewers the rare opportunity to experience the year’s best short films from across the globe, collected together in this special cinematic showcase courtesy of Shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures!
HAULOUT
(Directed by Evgenia Arbugaeva & Maxim Arbugaev / 2022 / UK / 25 min)
On a remote coast of the Siberian Arctic in a wind-battered hut, a lonely man waits to witness an ancient gathering. But warming seas and rising temperatures bring an unexpected change, and he soon finds himself overwhelmed.
ICE MERCHANTS
(Directed by Jay Rosenblatt / 2022 / USA / 29 min)
For 17 years, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt filmed his daughter Ella on her birthday in the same spot, asking the same questions. What results is a unique chance to watch time, to see a young woman come into focus physically, mentally and emotionally.
STRANGER AT THE GATE
(Directed by Joshua Seftel / 2022 / USA / 30 min)
From Executive Producer Malala Yousafzai. After 25 years of service, a US Marine filled with hatred for Muslims plots to bomb an Indiana mosque. When he comes face to face with the immigrants he seeks to kill, the story takes a shocking twist toward compassion, grace, and forgiveness.
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER
(Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves / 2020 / India / 39 min)
The Elephant Whisperers follows an indigenous couple as they fall in love with Raghu, an orphaned elephant given into their care, and tirelessly work to ensure his recovery and survival.
THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT
(Directed by Anne Alvergue & Debra McClutchy / 2022 / USA / 39 min)
She was once as famous as Jackie O. And then she tried to take down a President. The Martha Mitchell Effect is an archival documentary portrait of the unlikeliest of whistleblowers: Martha Mitchell, a Republican cabinet wife who was gaslighted by the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet. It offers a female gaze on Watergate through the voice of the woman herself.